Theos-Talk Archives (July 1996 Message tl00417)

According to Martin_Euser:
> 
>    Pondering about this eclecticism, I see no reason why the effort
>    of synthesis should not be extended to present day philosophies, 
>    scientific findings, etc. In practice, however, this
>    is not what has happened.

The Quest and Sunrise have to some extent tried to do so.  But
there's a membrane between the Theosophy and the current ideas
which is impermeable.  The Quest authors who write about
current thinking rarely if ever relate them to the Theosophical
literature.  The Sunrise articles tend to look for current
developments which can be used to support Theosophical
teachings, rather than engaging in any real comparison and
analysis.  Synthesis requires a yielding up of the authority of
the thesis and antithesis; no TS is willing to yield an inch of
ground and the ULT is even more firmly established in its
existing conceptions.  The total lack of any critique of
Blavatskian anthropogenesis within the movement says a lot
about the state of Theosophical ability to synthesize with
current science and philosophy.  If you can't say "maybe HPB
was wrong about this to some extent" you can't synthesize very
well.

>    It would be a challenge however, if T/theosophists would cooperate and 
>    provide extensions to Theosophy and some new ways of looking at the 
>    doctrines (which are basically working hypotheses, not dogmas).
> 
Having provided a new way of looking at one of the core ones--
the Masters-- I could not in good conscience recommend to
anyone else to follow a similar path unless they were willing
to become a Theosophical punching bag.

>                 without that you can forget about Theosophy. Empathy is 
>                 essential in bringing about the first object of the TSs!)
>    
We do have a path that is terribly unbalanced between heart and
head, IMO.  That really came through when I saw how
unselfconsciously hateful people could be over ideas on
theos-l.  Conscious thinking implies unconscious feeling in the
Jungian system of four functions.
Maturity in the movement requires integrating the shadow of all
those submerged and denied feelings.  What a task!
> 
> The only issue that will probably never be fully resolved is the issue
> of providing extensions to and/or reinterpretations and rephrasings
> of teachings. TI members may give it a try :)

To some extent my work on Cayce portrays him in the light of a
successor to/extension of Theosophy.  Am trying not to wonder
how it will be received.

Thanks, Martin for some timely and wise comments.

Cheers
Paul